Summary to fire DG FIA, IG Sindh sent to PM

Court directs AGP to submit compliance report on daily basis.

ISLAMABAD: A summary to terminate 15 contractual officials, including Inspector-General Sindh Salahuddin Babar Khatak, Director-General of the Federal Investigation Agency Waseem Ahmed, three federal secretaries and one additional secretary, has been sent to the prime minister.

Secretary Establishment Abdur Rauf Chaudhry informed an eight-member special bench headed by Supreme Court Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry on Thursday, during the hearing of the suo motu case of alleged corruption in Hajj arrangements.

He said secretaries for defence production and human rights had also been appointed on contract.

“Was General Athar Ali awarded a contract because he was a general? What is his experience in administrative control issues? He cannot even tackle the issue of the PIA employees’ strike,” the Chief Justice remarked.

Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq said that a two-member committee was reviewing 157 cases of contractual employment in the federal government and has so far called for terminating 15 contracts.

Meanwhile, advocates-general of all provinces also briefed the court about the provincial governments.

AG Sindh submitted that services of 43 of 82 such officers had been terminated.

AG Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa said that nine officers were on contract and services of all of them had been terminated. AG Punjab said that nine senior officers on contract had been sacked.

Only Balochistan advocate-general said that no senior official in the province had been appointed on contract.

The court directed the attorney-general to submit a compliance report on a daily basis.

Earlier, the chief justice directed FIA to interrogate Abdul Qadir Gilani, the son of PM Yousaf Raza Gilani, for his alleged involvement in the scam.

When Additional Director FIA Javed Bukhari told the court that Zain Sukhera did not have the requisite degree, the chief justice remarked: “How was he appointed as a consultant?...Who patronised Zain Sukhera?”

Bukhari replied: “It was secretary Najeebullah, who has now retired. He is currently a member of the Public Service Commission.”

The court adjourned hearing till February 15.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 11^th, 2011.